For this month’s IWL Board Member Spotlight, we want to recognize someone who has taken IWL to new heights in our second market of Louisville, Kentucky. Diane Bailey-Boulet, Program Manager of Leadership Development for Humana, has worked with IWL since 2015 on our Louisville women’s leadership conferences. From a career of event planning, relationship building, fundraising, and fostering open minds, she has brought great value as the Louisville Conference committee chair for the past two years. She recently joined our Board of Directors as an expert on diversity and inclusion, as well as a critical connector between our home base and Louisville – winning her the award for furthest commute to board meetings!

As Program Manager in Humana’s Office of Inclusion & Diversity, Diane’s primary areas of focus include supporting senior leaders in mentoring high potential managers and building relationships with diverse talent, as well as fostering local and regional external partnerships to advance women as leaders and males as allies.

Diane says she takes inspiration from strong, successful women in her life – her mother, who was among a small fraction of British women to graduate with honors from university after World War II, and who led within the League of Women Voters and at church in Boston; entrepreneurial business women she worked for “who demonstrated that women had a great capacity to innovate, lead, and succeed”; her grandmothers, who left school at 14 to work. Diane graduated from Boston College with a degree in history, and is the first woman in her family to formally pursue a career. She is fulfilled today by supporting young women and men as they start their careers.

“I am at my most fulfilled in my career and life when I am contributing to enabling individuals, communities, and organizations to maximize their talents, grow, and achieve their full potential. I rely on my strengths as a connector, coach, and communicator to collaborate with others.

“I didn’t hesitate when invited to join the IWL board in 2017 because of IWL’s commitment to advocating for women’s leadership and its commitment to engaging males as allies in creating a workplace and world where everyone has an opportunity to contribute to stronger businesses and communities.”

Through our work with Diane, we have discovered that she is a talented wordsmith. As a first-generation British-American, she just finished writing her first book on her father’s childhood in northern England, to be published in 2018.

Diane serves on boards and committees for the YMCA of Greater Louisville, Kentucky Shakespeare, and Women Influencing Louisville (WIL). Other passions include “breaking records, achieving results, trying new recipes, traveling, singing, and any excuse for a cup of tea.” She shares these joys with her husband of 32 years and her two daughters.

We are so fortunate to have Diane in our IWL family, and so grateful for her contributions since 2015 – and excited for what’s to come with her leadership.